File image of Shai Hope
West Indies opener Sgai Hope on Sunday scripted twin records during the third and final ODI match against India at the Barabati Stadium in Cuttack. Hope registered the two records en route to his 42-run knock in the series decider.
Put to bat first, West Indies got off to a promising start with the opening pair of Evin Lewis and Hope managing a 57-run stand before Ravindra Jadeja removed the former for just 21. Hope, who looked well-set with five boundaries, en route to his 42 was removed by Mohammed Shami in the 20th over.
En route to his knock, Hope become the second-fastest batsman to 3000 ODI runs, reaching the milestone in his 67th innings. He surpassed Pakistan's Babar Azam (68) and Windies legend Viv Richards (69). South African talisman Hashim Amla is still the fastest to achieve the feat having amassed 3000 ODI runs in his 57th innings. This implies that Hope also became the fastest Windies batsman to the mark, surpassing Richards.
With his dismissal, Hope ended his 2019 ODI tally at 1345 runs (in 28 ODIs) which is the second highest run tally by a West Indies batsman in a calendar year. He surpassed Desmond Haynes' tally of 1232 runs in 1985 and finished only four runs short of table-topper Brian Lara's tally which he had scored in 1993.
Meanwhile, the tally of 1345 runs in 2019 also stands second behind India's Rohit Sharma who has so far managed 1427 runs in as many games. Indian skipper Virat Kohli stands third 1292 runs in 26 ODIs.
